Plants subshrubs, (1) 2–4 (5) dm tall, 3–8 dm across; stems lacking a caudex, the aerial flowering stems 0.2– 0.6 (0.8) dm long, floccose or tomentose, rarely glabrous; leaf blade usually elliptic, (0.5) 1–2 (2.5) cm long, (0.1) 0.2–0.6 (0.8) cm wide, densely to sparsely whitish-tomentose abaxially, less so to sparsely whitish- floccose adaxially, the margins not revolute; inflorescences (1) 2–4 (8) cm long, the branches floccose or glabrous; involucres 2–3 (3.5) mm long, subglabrous, glabrous, or merely floccose between angled ridges; flowers 2–3 mm long, the perianth white to pink or rose, rarely yellow as individual plants in north-central Arizona; achenes 2–3 mm long.

Flowering Jun-Oct. Sandy to gravelly flats and slopes, mixed grassland, saltbush, blackbrush, and sagebrush communities, pinyon-juniper and montane conifer woodlands; (400) 1500–3200 m.